With a lifetime of art making, mix-media assemblagist and neon bender Joel Hegerle presents his first retrospective show in the Hotel Donaldson restaurant through the month of December.

Beginning at an early age, with parents involved in various forms of crafting, Hegerle was encouraged to pursue his creative impulses. He was originally interested in studying architecture, but the Vietnam War persuaded him otherwise.

In the early 1970s, Hegerle studied sculpture and painting from Minnesota State University Moorhead. He noted the caliber of students and faculty during that time, and how a competitive, critical yet nurturing environment developed in their shared studio space.

Similar to his work, Hegerle has held a variety of artistically driven careers throughout the years. He spent 22 years as a graphic designer in his native Fergus Falls, before learning how to bend neon, which he incorporated in his art making and resulted in a career in sign making.

Now that he’s retired, Hegerle is able to focus entirely on his art making. But that’s not to say he hasn’t dreamed up additional opportunities.

“If I could live another hundred years, I’d love to be an art therapist. But I don’t really have time for that right now,” Hegerle said.

Retirement has provided Hegerle with additional travel opportunities to Mexico, where much of his work is derived. The folksy and sometimes brutal presentation of Hegerle’s most recent work resulted from the primitive tools he used while in Puerto Vallarta.

The current show offers a variety of new and unseen works including the expected assemblages, lesser representation of the neon work and a few shrines. The shrines are additional evidence of the Mexican influence.

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Tessa is a junior studying Journalism, Art History and German. In addition to The Spectrum, her work can be found in the High Plains Reader and The Arts Partnership. Her free time is spent partaking in solo endeavors to the Fargo Theatre, at ecce gallery or on the dance floor.
She can be reached at ae@ndsuspectrum.com